2011 National History Day Competitions

National History Day (NHD) is a year-long educational program for middle-and high-school students that involves them in a competition to research, learn, and produce a creative project on a topic in history based on a theme. NMHS is an official supporter of this program in hopes of inspiring young people to learn about their maritime history by offering special NMHS prizes to the students who do the most outstanding project on a maritime topic. The 2011 NHD theme was “Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.” Students in Junior and Senior divisions submitted projects in nine categories ranging from developing a website to performance in costume to more traditional papers and reports.

This year NMHS participated in NHD events in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Judges for the 2011 NMHS prizes were as follows: New York – NMHS trustee Captain Cesare Sorio and NMHS president Burchenal Green; Connecticut – Dr. Steven Park, manager of the Learning Resource Center at the University of Connecticut; Paul O’Pecko, vice president of Collections and Research and director of the G. W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport; and NMHS president Burchenal Green; and New Jersey – NMHS chairman Ronald Oswald, NMHS trustee Jean Wort, and NMHS president Burchenal Green.

The NMHS National History Day Award Winners for 2011

Connecticut

Senior Level 1st Place: Maya Levine-Ritterman from Wilbur Cross High School for her website The SS St. Louis Tragedy. Teacher: Alfred Meadows

Junior Level 1st Place: Jared Bell from the Bell family home school for his website Successful Mutiny: Debate and Diplomacy of the Amistad. Teacher: Colleen Bell

Junior Level 2nd Place: Graham Frassinelli from Hall Memorial School for his documentary The Leviathan’s Salvation: The International Moratorium on Commercial Whaling. Teacher: Pat Pinney

New Jersey

NMHS Trustee Jean Wort and NMHS Chairman Ronald Oswald with Keertana Andraj from West Windsor- Plainsboro High School South in New Jersey

Senior Level 1st Place: (2 prizes) Conor Reid from Montvale Township High School for his documentary Pirates! The US and the Barbary Coast. Teacher: Peter Porter; and Keertana Anandraj from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South for her paper The Trent Affair: Seward’s Diplomatic Response to the British Lion Saves Lincoln’s Union. Teacher: Joan Ruddiman

Senior Level 2nd Place: Olivia Qui from Montvale Township High School for her exhibit Alabama Claims: The Establishment of International Arbitration. Teacher: Peter Porter

New York

Senior Level 1st Place: Sanjay Anchar from Shenendehowa High School for his website LBJ & the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Teacher: Amber Quinn